He's Not There
by Greekgeek852
Summary: Annabeth is a thirty year old mother of two young children who lost her husband in a tragic car accident. What does she do when one Special Agent Jackson shows up to her house one morning wanting to ask her some questions?
1. Spiders

** Hey everyone! I just wanted to say that this is my first fanfiction! I am totally in love with Percy Jackson but sadly do not own it. I also wanted to mention that I did start over because I was not happy with what I previously had. I am going to mention this up until the end of chapter 3 just so you know. Anyways I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>He's Not There<p>

**Annabeth's POV**

My name is Annabeth and I'm thirty years old.

I have never lived like a normal human, because well, I'm not one. I am a half- blood. A half blood is a mix between a god or goddess and a mortal human.

My father is Dr. Frederick Chase and my mother is Athena, the goddess of wisdom. I was sent to my father as a gift from Athena, but it was clear from the start that my father didn't see me as a gift. It got even worse when he decided to get remarried to my step mother. Not long after they got married, they brought home my two step- brothers and I was practically frozen out.

I was so fed up with this life, so I ran away when I was seven. I didn't know where I was going, but I just kept running. Along my journey, I met a couple of other half bloods and they changed my life forever. A little while later we arrived at a place called Camp Half Blood. This was my new home. I don't need to go into much detail right now about my whole childhood because it seems irrelevant, but those people I met on my way to Camp Half Blood transformed my life.

Currently I live in Washington D.C. with my two children, Noah and Grace, because of my husband's work. He is also a half blood like me. Of course that was the reason I live in Washington D.C. until the day of my husband's death.

Today marks the two year anniversary of his unexpected death.

Two years. Two years since I was widowed. Two years since the father of my children died. The news is still pretty fresh. It took me so long to process because I just couldn't believe it.

He died in a fatal car crash instantly according to the medical examiners. A car crash? That is what confused me most because he had survived the craziest battles with the scariest monsters. A car crash?

It was a terrible day for our whole family not only because of his death, but I had to call his mother and try to explain to her.

Even worse though, I had to explain to my children where their father was. Noah was old enough to understand but he just looked confused. I couldn't blame his though because he was only five.

Grace was even worse. She didn't really understand the concept of death at the age of three and she just kept asking me when Daddy was going to be home. I would have cried my eyes out, but I couldn't cry. I had to be brave for my children, be brave for myself, and the biggest reason of all, I couldn't cry if I wanted to. I felt terrible inside, but no tears came streaming down my face. I feel like it had something to do with processing his death. I couldn't process it because I didn't want it to be true.

My mind kept jumping from topic to topic. From my childhood to my marriage. To giving birth to my two beautiful children to my husband's death. I almost forgot what I was doing at first. I looked down at the blank piece of large paper on my sketch table.

I was designing a building for a new bank in New York City. My older brother Malcom called me yesterday all excited about a new building that our architecture company was hired to build.

I've always wanted to be an architect ever since I was a little girl. I grew up learning about architecture and reading about it. It was and still to this day is my dream to own the most successful architecture firm in the world and I am on my way to doing just that.

When my brother Malcom graduated from college as a business major, he surprised me with the news that he would help me complete my dream. We would open an architecture firm of our own when I graduated from college. He would be it charge of the more business like stuff at the firm and I would design the buildings.

Only a couple years after we opened, a big corporation came to us and hired us to build their new headquarters. After that, business boomed and it hasn't stopped since.

I looked down at the paper again. My mind was completely blank. Just blank. I always have thoughts, ideas, and answers to everything because of my Athena blood, but not this time.

I decided that I needed some fresh air. I would go outside, clear my mind, and get myself off of the topic of my husband's death. I stood up and turned around already starting to clear my mind. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Grace standing there staring at me.

Grace. My little girl. I could see myself in her as her long, blonde curls tumbled down her back. I could see myself in her striking gray eyes. Most of all, I could see myself through her personality. She loves to read and run around. Her never ending energy sure helps me fall asleep at night.

"Mommy, are you busy?" Her sweet and innocent voice asks me. She still didn't know when her father was coming home. She also didn't know that today marks the two year anniversary of his death.

"No, sweetie, I'm never busy for you!" I said as I scooped her up in my arms. I spun her around and her giggles were of someone who was full of hope. Hope that someone very dear to her coming home from "vacation" any day now.

"Mommy, stop! Stop!" She laughed. Her voice is just so sweet, it really just makes my heart melt.

She was so happy, and I was so jealous of her. She had hope and happiness and not a clue where her father is. What I would give to have that too.

"So what do you want to do today? Park? Movie? Movie at home? It's summer! No school!" I watched the smile fade from Grace's face.

"You don't need to remind me," She said sadly.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to spend time with Noah and me?"

"Yes but I love school! I don't know how I'm going to spend one less day without it!" She wined. How could I forget? Her Athena heritage makes her have a natural instinct to want to learn and love doing so. Even her father's adventurous nature and ability to not focus didn't overpower Grace's Athena blood, so Grace is defiantly one of a kind.

"I know you love school," I said as I shook my head thinking about how similar she was to me. I wouldn't say this aloud or to anyone ever, but Grace was secretly my favorite. I know, I know I'm a mom and I'm not supposed to have favorites, but it was so easy with her. She loved everything I loved and was practically an exact replica of me. And it's not like I don't love Noah and Grace equally because believe me I do, but I knew how to approach things with Grace because well she took the same interests I did.

She was always reading. She loved intellectual games. Had enough energy to power Olympus and was so adorable! We are practically the same person, well she does have more energy than I do. Compared to her I can only power a rather small room.

I smiled down at the little girl on my hip. She never let me forget how much I loved her.

"I know what I want to do today!" She finally yelled out. I set her down already knowing what she was going to say next.

"Go get everything out," I told her. You see Grace and I do have one minor difference. My whole life before I got married and had kids was architecture. Grace couldn't design a good building to save her life. Granted she is only five years old, but I don't really see architecture in her future.

On the other hand, Grace had a knack for cooking. Again I know she is only five but gods can that girl cook! Baking in particular suits her very well. I wouldn't be surprised if she opened her own bakery one day.

Before I knew it we were in the kitchen baking cookies and cupcakes, our usual weekend activity. This usually ended up in flour wars which are always fun. I sat down on the couch in the downstairs living room after our baking adventure. This kid tired me out every weekend with the baking, so I decided to watch TV which seemed like a much better idea.

As soon as I plopped down on the couch and flipped on the TV to the Discovery channel, Grace immediately climbed up on to my lap and fell asleep. I was really getting into the documentary about lions when my phone went off to the familiar ringtone.

"Shhhh!" I scolded the phone. I picked it up quickly so it wouldn't wake Grace and looked at the caller ID which read: **Thalia**. Thalia has been my best friend since I was seven years old. I met her when I ran away from home and didn't know where I was going. Ever since then we have always been there for each other and helped one another throughout our lives. "Hello?" I said in a soft voice.

"Hello?" Thalia replied. "Why are you being so quiet?"

"Oh, Grace is asleep."

"Oh, ok!" She seemed very happy. This was very rare. "So I just wanted to check on you because, well, you know."

"What are you talking about?" I asked acting confused, but I knew why she called.

"Here we go again! Classic Annabeth, always in denial." I could just see the look on her face right now. I can't say this is the first time acting confused around people when I just didn't feel like talking about my husband's death. It just brought back too many painful memories.

I decided that the best thing to do right now was to just go with the flow and not create more trouble for myself. "Fine," I answered, "I'm doing fine."

"Great! Now was that so hard?"

"Thalia, if that is all you called for I have better things to be doing right now than to talk about my old life," I reminded her.

"Well I called for that and because I wanted to invite you to lunch tomorrow."

"Where?" I demanded.

"Olive Garden," Thalia chirped. I could tell that I was being a bit mean and she was trying to stay positive throughout all of this. On any other day she would be yelling at me right now.

"Ok fine I'll go," I sighed, "What time?"

"Noon."

"Great," And with that I hung up on her. I wasn't really in the mood for people right now. All I needed was my little Grace and Noah and I was all set.

"Hey, Mom," Noah said sweetly as he hopped down the stairs and sat down on the couch by me and Grace.

Noah was a sweet kid and I loved him so much. He was a great kid and I could tell that when he got older, he would be what people call the "whole package."

Noah has blonde hair like Grace and I, but didn't inherit the gray eye color. Instead he got his father's gorgeous eyes. He was without a doubt very handsome, but I still refer to him as cute. Of course he is athletic because he is a half-blood and will have to stay in shape to fight monsters. Noah is also very intelligent thanks to his grandmother being Athena. He will defiantly be the "whole package."

I was finally relaxing with sweet little Grace on my lap when the doorbell rang. I picked her up slowly and tried to set her down without waking her up. I quickly ran to the door and opened it to find Malcom and his new fiancé standing before me. The look on my face and Malcom's were identical. I had completely forgotten that I had invited them over for dinner to celebrate their engagement, and even worse I was still covered in flour. Malcom and Danielle, Malcom's fiancé, couldn't help but laugh at my current state.

"Let it all out," I said miserably.

"Don't worry, it's not as funny as we are making it seem," Danielle said sweetly. Danielle was such a kind person that I would be proud to call my sister- in- law. Out of all the people my brother dated, Danielle was the only person who met both my standards and Malcom's.

She actually went to Camp- Half- Blood with us. She's the daughter of Demeter and a mortal named Nathaniel Richens. Danielle had long, gorgeous light brown hair and her mother's mysterious light brown eyes. Nathaniel is a sweet old guy who happens to own the most famous farm industry. Danielle thinks that her mother was attracted to him not because he makes a lot of money off of agriculture, but because of his passion for gardening. It's such a sweet story of how they met too. Nathaniel had ordered a large amount of lemon trees for his farm and Demeter was really impressed by the large amount of orders he places so she delivered the trees personally. From that day on Nathaniel has always been one of Demeter's favorite mortals.

They both walked in to put down the food they brought. As expected Noah ran up to his uncle and pretty much aunt as the smile spread on his face.

"Hey, buddy!" Malcom yelled as he picked up Noah. The family moments in this family were definitely enjoyed because we never knew when they would just be gone.

"So I'm going to grab a quick shower. You guys can help yourself to whatever," I stated as I turned around and began to climb the stairs.

"Annabeth, wait!" Danielle broke in.

"Yeah?" I said as I turned around.

"Look at your daughter," Danielle started, "She looks just like you."

For a moment I was really confused. Why was she stating the obvious? "Thank you? I guess, I mean she is my daughter."

"The flour," Danielle corrected. Being a single parent was really taking a toll on the amount of sleep that I got.

"Oh my gods," I sighed, "Can you take care of her?" I asked hopefully.

Danielle looked a little shocked. "Me?" She questioned.

Sarcastically I replied, "You know what, it's ok. It's not like you're her aunt or anything," Almost immediately I saw Danielle pick up Grace and join me as we walked up the stairs to shower.

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><p>"Everything looks delicious, Malcom," I said as I gawked at the food.<p>

"It's Mom's secret Greek recipe," He told me as he grabbed a huge helping and handed it to Noah.

"What are you doing? He's a seven year old child," I asked Malcom wondering why in the world he would give a child that much to eat.

"Come on, Annabeth, lighten up! You have no sense of humor even since-"

"Ever since what, Malcom?" I didn't even let him finish his sentence.

"Never mind," He said as he looked down at his food. The awkward silence filled the room and I could tell Danielle, being the sweet woman she is, felt like changing the subject.

"So, Noah how is baseball?" She asked my son right as he shoved a huge piece of his dinner in his mouth.

"Iff's gwood," Noah stated awkwardly as he chewed. It got silent again, so all attention was instantly turned to Grace. The lovable little girl sat there playing with her food. There was no point in dragging this on any longer, so I got up and began cleaning the dishes.

As I walked into the kitchen with the plates piled high in my arms, my heart almost skipped a beat as the dishes clanked to the floor. Right by my feet was a spider.

So what it's a little spider right? Not really! I guess it goes back to my Athena blood and how all Athena children hate spiders. They are just tiny little demons that scare me to death.

"Ahhhhh!" My scream was probably higher pitched than Grace's. I just stood there frozen with the plates sprawled all over the floor and my family rushing in from the dining room.

"Annabeth? What's wrong?" They all asked. No words came out, but instead my hand moved up so that it was pointing at the spider.

I don't know if Malcom was just in the moment, he wanted to make up for what he had almost said at the dinner table, or he just wanted to look heroic in front of Danielle, but regardless of his Athenian blood, Malcom killed that spider. Once I looked back, Grace looked terrified. Danielle hugged Malcom like he had just saved her life, and I knew Noah was a little scared, but he tried to put on a brave face which was rather cute.

After Malcom and Danielle's engagement celebration was finally over, we said our goodbyes. I was still a little angry at Malcom, but I decided to let it go for now for the sake of my children. I mean why does everyone want to constantly bring up his death? It was two years ago, I'm over it.

I'm over it. That's a thin statement. Anyone, even random people on the street, would never believe that. I think I keep repeating that in hopes that one day I will trick myself into thinking I'm over it, but I will forever love him. He was my everything. The one I grew up with and the one I woke up next to every morning. I couldn't live life without him, but now I have to.

I finished cleaning up the dishes and sat down on the couch next to Noah and Grace. I flipped the TV off which caused them to both look at me. I took a deep breath.

"Guys, I want to talk about your father," I explained. They stared at me and I just broke into a huge speech. A speech about who their father was. A sweet guy that I fell in love with when I was young. We all smiled and laughed as I told stories about some of our childhood adventures. Then I got to the part about his death and how their father took a trip to heaven.

"When will we get to see him?" Grace asked. Her voice was so innocent.

"We will see him when we take our trip to heaven."

"Can we go for fall break?"

"No, sweetie, each of us goes to heaven when it's our time to leave. We can't just go for fun," I tried to explain this to her without bringing Hades into it. She doesn't need to know that there is no heaven and everyone goes to the Underworld. She's only five so it would create a terrible image in her mind. She can learn about it when it's time for her to go to Camp-Half-Blood.

"Oh," She mumbled as she looked down. We sat in silence for the next few moments. I felt terrible, like I had just destroyed her last hope to see her father.

"I just want you guys to know that your father loved you so much and he will always love you," I tried to make that sincere. I knew that they believed it, but they missed him so much. This moment was getting too sad for us to handle, so I got up and started getting them ready for bed.

After both Noah and Grace were in bed, I went into their rooms and kissed them goodnight. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw what Grace had decided to wear to bed. I don't know about you but I would rather wear sweats to bed than a $300 dress. She cracked me up.

This day was so long. Too long. My head hit the pillow and I was out just like that.

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><p>I woke up the next morning early. In my younger days I would have slept past six, but I have children now. Usually I wake them up early for school, but it was summer so I let them sleep in.<p>

All this extra time was making me incredibly bored. After a little while, I decided to watch a documentary on Netflix about the truth behind crop circles. It was actually getting interesting and then the doorbell rang. I clicked the pause button on the remote and ran to the door.

I didn't want to open it because I was in soffe shorts, a tank top that read **Cabin 6 Athena**, and my blonde curls were thrown up into a ponytail. Then I realized it was probably one of my annoying neighbors so I opened the door.

"What do you want this early?" I asked in a very annoyed voice when I had opened the door. The sun practically blinded me so it took me a minute to process that this was a very attractive man probably in his early thirties. When my vision finally came back to me I saw that he had a very questionable look on his face. "Sorry," I quickly blurted, "I just thought you were one of my very irritating neighbors." A smile then slid onto his face and for some unknown reason butterflies fluttered around in my stomach. Why did I love this stranger's smile so much?

"I'm very sorry to disturb you, but I am Special Agent Jackson with the FBI and I need to ask you a few questions."

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><p><strong>So what did you think? Please review and let me know! I want to know everything you thought because I hope to grow as a writer! I also wanted to add that I started this fan fiction over so if you read like chapter 1 and 2 already, you are going to be really confused in chapter 3. I kept most of the content the same just changed a few things. I will mention this a few more times so please start over I don't want you to be confused. Anyways let me know what you think of what your opinion was and other things I can improve on because I always want to grow as a writer. And I know I also said I would add a third chapter when I redid this but I just wanted to put it up and I have also been extremely busy. I can't even begin to describe the last few months that I experienced so hopefully next week. <strong>


	2. Questions With Coffee

**So I have seen from other stories that I have read people sort of thanked specific reviewers personally. For this chapter I have decided to thank PixelArtyGirl1. Thank you so much for being the first reviewer! When I read it that night you have no idea how happy that made me so thanks!**

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><p><strong>Percy's POV<strong>

I flipped the radio on as I got in my black SUV. A popular song sang out as I buckled my seatbelt and started the drive to question a deceased victim's wife.

Let me back up a bit. This morning I stepped into my office with a cardboard box in my hands. I was ready to pack up all of my belongings, which wasn't much, and quit my job as a special agent for the FBI. I have been working for the agency for thirteen years, and it was thirteen years of the FBI's dirty work.

I was about to hand in my letter of resignation when my boss walks in and hands me a case file. He explained that he knew I was going to quit but he needed me to tie up a few loose ends.

Apparently "a few loose ends" means a whole new case. I set down the box and opened the case file. It was almost completely empty besides a few pieces of paper describing the accident. I flipped the paper over and attached to the back was an evidence bag with a single photograph in it. In the photo was a young man holding a young woman's hand.

This woman. There were no words to describe her. She was gorgeous. Not in a way that you just knew that she spent hours getting ready in the morning, but in a completely effortless way. She was the type of girl that every man wanted and every girl wanted to be. She had curly blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. Her smile illuminated the picture. She looked so happy as she looked to her side and stared at what I presumed to be her son, husband, and daughter. They looked like a real family, something that I never really had.

I was born in New York, but my mom and I moved to San Francisco when I was about three. My father is Poseidon, or Neptune as I usually refer to him as. He is the god of the sea and one of the big three. My mother is Sally Jackson, the sweetest lady in the world. My mother was practically a single parent and we only had each other.

When I was the right age my mom sent me Camp Jupiter. Camp Jupiter is a Roman camp for half- bloods like me. My whole life was intense training and my number one priority, to become praetor. With all the training for the job, I was elected praetor when I was fifteen and retired when I was eighteen. Ever since then I was recruited by the FBI for one of their top secret programs.

My name is Percy Jackson and this is my life.

I looked down at the paper with the address I was supposed to be driving to. I recognized this street. It was in a cute little neighborhood with homes that are worth a lot of money. When I finally arrived, I parked in the driveway next to a silver Prius.

I reviewed the file again before I got out of the car. The father of the family was killed almost exactly two years ago in a car crash. It was documented as an accident, but there were suspicions because of his line of work. This case was put aside for more "important" ones. I'm pretty sure they just had no leads though.

I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. It was quite early so I was expecting it to take a while for someone to answer the door if anyone did. I heard some shuffling inside and then the door flung open. Standing in front of me was the gorgeous woman from the case file picture, and she had an irritated look on her face.

"What do you want this early?" She demanded. That made me look at her questionably. "Sorry," She quickly blurted, "I thought you were one of my very irritating neighbors." That made a smile slide onto my face and hers as well.

"I'm very sorry to disturb you, but I am Special Agent Jackson with the FBI and I need to ask you a few questions," I replied as she now had a questionable look on her face but invited me inside anyways.

When I walked in, I was standing in a beautiful living room. It had a nice little set up of couches facing each other and a TV on the opposite wall. All of the décor around the room added to the relaxation aura that the room gave off and made it look like it was professionally done.

She closed the door after me and sat down on one of the fancy, brown couches. She motioned for me to sit down across from her, so I did. I stared at her and mentally compare her face to the case file picture I saw. It had been taken a couple of years ago I assumed.

For most people, an event like this would cause constant stress and a permanent worried look on their face. Her face though, just looked sad, but no permanent worried look or signs of stress, just sadness. I couldn't help but want to comfort her.

"So how can I help you?" She asked staring at me with such pain in her eyes.

"Um . . . well I'm Special Agent Jackson with the FBI." I said stupidly as I stared at her.

"Yeah, I know. You told me." She replied giving me a half smile. "I'm Annabeth by the way, Annabeth Chase, but I'm sure you already knew that," She said eyeing the file I held in my hands.

I paused for a second, still staring at her. "So, Ms. Chase-"I began but she cut me off.

"Please call me Annabeth!" She laughed, "Ms. Chase makes me sound like I'm an old, mean English teacher!" She continued to laugh at her joke. It was intriguing to hear her laugh. Almost as if she had been in an Acoma of happiness and she was now waking up.

"Well in that case, call me Percy since we seem to be on a first name basis already," I smiled. This made her laugh too, but not an insane laugh like it was the funniest thing that she had ever heard.

"So," I started awkwardly getting on to the tough questions, "Tell me about the day of your husband's death."

"What do you mean? Don't you fancy smancy FBI agents already have that on file?" The joking was over now.

"Well yes but we fancy smancy FBI agents need to know everything. Like were there any suspicious things you noticed leading up to your husband's death?"

"It was a car crash . . ."She said as she looked down at the floor. I could tell that she was trying to be strong and hold back her tears.

"Yes we know that, but recent events have caused us to rethink the original report."

"It was a car crash . . ."Were the only words that came out of her mouth sounding more worried this time.

"Ms. Chase," I sighed, "Annabeth, do you know anything?" I asked soothingly.

"It was a freakin' car crash!" Annabeth burst out, "How can you say otherwise?"

"I'm sorry, but this is what I was sent here to investigate," I said calmly. She sighed collapsing on the couch again.

"He was a good person," She whispered.

"Annabeth, were you aware of your husband's work?" I questioned.

"Yeah he was a lawyer mostly for federal government cases. That's why we moved to D.C." She replied.

"Well you are partly right," I told her.

"You mean I am one hundred percent right because that was his job?" She sarcastically replied.

"We reopened this case because it was recently discovered that your husband worked in a top secret terrorist organization that was and still spying on our government," I stated blatantly.

The confused look on her face said it all. She clearly had no idea and most likely thought I was lying to her.

"Why are you making this up?"

"I know this is hard to believe, but a department in the FBI that specializes in under covering terrorist organizations recently discovered this specific one that your husband was a part of."

"Terrorist organization?" She questioned.

"Well sort of," I began. I was not quite sure how to explain that her husband was a part of a terrorist organization for Kronos. It was a terrorist organization to any mortal, but to half- bloods it was an organization designed to topple Olympus. It was a delicate matter, one that I had no idea how much she was involved in.

"Annabeth, I know you're a half-blood. I know who your mother and father are. These details are all in this file," I said holding up the folder. "What I can't guarantee is how much you know about this operation. From the looks of it, you knew nothing. You had no idea that your husband was one of many planning to overthrow Olympus."

"I swear to the gods if this is more pathetic crap you're making up I'm going to call the police on you."

"Ms. Chase I am the police, and I am not making any of this up. No matter how much you think you know your husband we have solid proof that he was working for Kronos to take down Olympus. I strongly believe that he told you he was a lawyer as a cover."

She had a mix of emotions on her face. She looked sad and angry and confused and I needed her to talk to me with any information, but she seemed out of the loop.

"Special Agent Percy Jackson," She finally responded, "Let's assume just for a minute that I believe this crazy story. Why did my family and I move to Washing D.C. for my . . . _husband's_ work when Mount Olympus is in New York?"

"Well Mount Olympus is in New York but Kronos's uprising is stationed here." This was true and new information that we currently couldn't do anything about. I was hoping that this visit would change that . . .

"How did I not know this? I am still a huge part of Camp Half- Blood! I have always been the type of person on top of everything and ready to fight!" She seemed really angry that she was left in the dark for so long.

"Annabeth, it's not your fault that you didn't know. We have actually gone and questioned members of Camp Half- Blood about this ordeal and all of them thought you knew and were just too busy with work and your kids to be concerned."

"Is that what they really said?"

"Yeah," I said as I opened the case file and pulled out the paper with everyone's statements on it. She read every last one of them and then looked back up at me perplexed.

"Ms. Chase, you may not chose to believe this, but I'm sorry this is the truth. Your husband worked for Kronos and planned to take down the Olympians."

I looked at the expression on her face and I could see she so desperately didn't want to believe me.

But she did.

I could tell she was conflicted whether to trust the man she thought she knew, loved, and married without any doubt or the cold hard facts. I remembered that she said her mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom. She would be thinking and thinking about this trying to rationalize it. She believed the evidence that I showed her and knew I wasn't lying because she repeatedly looked at the case file and made me show her my FBI badge.

"I believe you," She muttered.

"Okay that's another step forward," I added, "So I am going to ask you this one more time. Annabeth, do you remember anything suspicious about your marriage? Anything questionable that never made sense but you thought nothing of it at the time?" All she did was get up and walk past me to a desk behind the couch I was sitting on.

She dug through the drawers for a minute ignoring my questioning looks and finally came back with a picture. She gave it to me and started on another cute little rant. Wait did I just think that these rants that were probably annoying were cute?

I looked down at the photograph and saw her family all smiling at the camera. This photo didn't look fake like they spent hours perfecting it, but it looked as if they didn't even know the picture was being taken. Everyone looked like they were having a blast and that they were a _real_ family . . .

"This was taken the day of his death," She stated, "And I had no idea anything he told was a lie until today. How can this be happening? I didn't do anything wrong and I end up with this problem! Yesterday I was mourning him again because it was the two year anniversary of his death and today I am questioning everything I know! If you think for one second that I was in on it, Agent Jackson, you would be stepping way over the line!" She had tears streaming down her face at this point.

I just looked up at her.

"What?" She yelled.

"Annabeth, I don't know you that well, but I am only here as a job. I have to ask these questions to try and figure out what is going on, but please believe me when I say that for the first time in my career I wish that I didn't have to these questions because I don't enjoy looking at you hurt."

"And you don't care on all of your other cases?"

"No I do care, but it feels different with you . . ." I couldn't explain it but it felt odd. I wanted to end this fast so I didn't have to see her hurt anymore.

"Mommy?" I heard a child's voice come from behind Annabeth. This caused both of our heads to snap in the direction of the voice. After a few seconds, I saw two young children emerge from behind the couch and climb up on Annabeth's lap.

"Um . . ." Annabeth started awkwardly, "Noah and Grace this is my . . . _friend_ Percy Jackson." She smiled up at me.

I smiled back and looked down at her children. They both looked so much like her and without a doubt were the grandchildren of Athena. Their blonde hair easily gave that away.

"So," I looked at the little girl who I naturally assumed was Grace, "You must be Noah. It's nice to meet you. Her giggles lit up the whole room just like her mother's smile seemed to.

"He's Noah! I'm Grace!" She said still laughing.

"Oh I'm sorry," I beamed, "It's nice to meet you Grace and you too Noah." I said as I looked up at Annabeth. She looked happy as if her mind had completely forgotten the topic we were just discussing. The air in the room was no longer tense and instead had a happy feeling.

"So guys," She looked down at her children, "I am going to make you your favorite breakfast, but only if you go and wait in the kitchen," She looked at Noah and Grace with a really serious look on her face. They slowly slid off of her lap and trudged toward the kitchen.

"Waffles," She said as she rolled her eyes.

"My favorite food has always been French Toast," I laughed.

"That sounds delicious!" She whispered, "But don't give them any ideas because I just got used to them always wanting waffles."

"So I see that you are busy," I nodded toward the kitchen and she shook her head in agreement, "But before I leave I wanted to give you my card." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with my phone number on it and my work address.

"Thank you for this lovely visit!" She smiled up at me. The sarcasm in her voice was detectable from a mile away.

"Look we didn't really get to finish this conversation so I would really appreciate it if you could call me later and set up a meeting with me."

"Believe it or not that's what I want too. I need to get to the bottom of this for the camp, for my children, for me . . ."

"I look forward to seeing you soon," I stood up to shake her hand, "Oh I almost forgot." I picked up the picture of her family and was about to hand it to her when I saw that she wrote the date and all of their names on the back. It must suck to have this picture was all I could think of.

"Thank you, Percy," She shook my hand one last time and led me to the door.

**Annabeth's POV**

I got in my Prius and started driving to Olive Garden. I tried to relax because this was my day off from the kids and it was all about me. Me going out to eat with my best friend without any talk of my children or husband.

But that was the exact reason I couldn't relax.

I had just been informed that my husband was part of an organization that planned to take down Olympus. How could anyone relax?

I finally got to Olive Garden and walked through the doors hoping to see Thalia already there. I didn't feel like waiting. Luckily I didn't have to because according to the hostess she had already gotten a table.

I was led through the restaurant to find Thalia sitting at our table talking to some man.

"Figures," I muttered as I forced a smile onto my face to greet Thalia.

"Hey! Annabeth, I'm so glad you're here! Oh and this is Ethan! He's a friend of mine that I ran into on my way here so I invited him to lunch with us."

"Hi I'm Annabeth as you just heard." We both laughed.

Ethan had black hair and mysterious eyes. Thalia matched him with her dark exterior. She had black hair as well and dark makeup. She has always been the goth girl, but her eyes stood out. They were bright blue and stunning.

I began to chat with Ethan and get to know him. He was such a nice person and I was glad that Thalia had run into him and invited him to lunch. He kept making sweet comments like, "Annabeth, you have the most beautiful eyes," and he seemed interested in my work because he kept saying stuff like, "You have to show me some of your designs!" I felt like he was openly flirting with me and making excuses to see me again.

Thalia seemed completely fine with us practically excluding her from the conversation because she just texted the whole time. We all ordered our meals which led to more intriguing conversation between Ethan and me. I would never have condoned this before today and demanded that Thalia get rid of him immediately, but with the new information I had from earlier today, I was beginning to accept this.

I was even having fun! I never thought I would date again or even go out of the house, but now I was being guided in a different direction just from one morning.

"Oh gods! I am running really late, Annabeth, I'm so sorry but I have to get to a meeting for work," Ethan moaned as he grabbed his coat and threw a twenty on the table. "But before I go I just have to say it has been a pleasure meeting you and I would love to see you again." He gazed into my eyes not hiding that he obviously thought I was interesting. I mean he ignored the person who invited him out the entire time and talked to me instead. "Here is my number. Do what you want with it, but I hope you call me." And with that he was gone.

I sighed looking over at Thalia and thinking about our conversation. He seemed like an amazing guy that would be fun to date, but I have been tricked before so I might hold off on it for now. Thalia had missed everything Ethan and I had said to each other and instead was focusing on her cell phone.

She finally looked up at me and noticed that Ethan was gone. "Where did he go?" She asked.

"He left. He had a business meeting or something. You would have known if you were paying attention." Thalia's cheeks turned bright red as she looked at her phone one last time before setting it on the table.

"Well you and Ethan seemed to be getting along so well and I didn't want to ruin it!"

"Yeah sure. Why did you blush?"

"No reason . . ." She looked up at the ceiling like it was something new and interesting. I quickly grabbed her phone and started searching through the recent text messages.

"Annabeth!" Thalia tried to reach for her phone but I didn't let her get it. I kept scrolling until I found someone named **Parker.** He had the most text messaged from Thalia and it looked like he had text her equally as much. Could this be what sent the bright red blush onto her cheeks?

"Who's Parker?" I asked. The blush was back.

"Just someone I work with," She quickly grabbed her phone back probably before I could read the text messages.

I rolled my eyes at this. "Come on Thalia! I'm your best friend!" I looked at her silently pleading for her to tell me who this Parker guy was.

"Okay fine! I do work with him, but we are dating."

"And you kept this from me? I am a recently widowed mother of two children! A hot FBI agent has been the highlight of my week!" That got her attention.

"Hot FBI agent? Please do tell," She smiled. I told her about earlier today and I swear she looked more confused and angry than I did.

"What the Hades! How did I not know this! How did you not know this! We grew up with him!" She was extremely angry. "Wait are you sure? This guy could have been lying to you."

"Thalia," I whispered, "It was real. He was a real FBI agent and those were the real facts."

She looked disappointed, and that made two of us. I so desperately wanted Special Agent Percy Jackson to be wrong and get a call in the middle of our conversation saying that they accidentally sent him to the wrong house, but he was at the right house.

"I never knew," I admitted. "The whole time he played me." I reached into my purse and pulled out the picture of our family that I had showed Percy. "He doesn't even look guilty that he lied to me or that we were just there to make him look like a regular guy."

"Well at least you got a hot FBI agent out of all this."

"Way to be optimistic."

She laughed. "Special Agent Percy Jackson is it?" I nodded. "It sounds so James Bond! I wouldn't doubt it if you guys went on crazy adventures together!"

"Thalia, I don't even know if I'm ever going to see him again."

"Well I would love to meet him! And funny story, I have a cousin named Percy Jackson. I'm pretty sure mine lives in California though. I'm not sure, we haven't spoken in years, we kind of lost touch.

I thought for a moment about how funny it would be if we were talking about the same person. "I just want to know if this is a big misunderstanding," Was all I said.

"We'll find out the truth, Annabeth, I promise."

I hope so I thought as I turned over the picture in my hands and read what I had wrote on the back.

**June 15, 2012**

**Annabeth, Noah, Grace, Luke**

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><p><strong>I definitely love this version of this chapter more than what it originally was! Please review!<strong>


	3. Two Dates

**Annabeth's POV**

I sat there on the couch holding my phone and a piece of paper labeled **Agent Percy's Number**. I was contemplating whether or not to call the man that made me question everything I thought I knew. On one hand I didn't want this to be happening. I wanted to live the rest of my life as a widow raising my two children. But the other part of me wanted to take this risk.

This was an opportunity to change my life. I want to know. I want to know why he did this. Was he dragged into it unwillingly? I had to make a choice, but not without the input of my best friend. I quickly typed out to a text to Thalia.

**Hey quick question should I call that agent and potentially change my life forever or not call him and live out the rest of my days never knowing if what he told me was the truth?**

It took a minute for her to answer, but when she did I was surprised. Her reply was serious and wise, the complete opposite of her normal personality.

_Annabeth, slow down! Just ask yourself this question. Do you even slightly believe what this man told you was true?_

I thought for a moment.

Yes.

I did believe him. I know I should believe what Luke told me because the foundation of a marriage is built on trust and all that crap, but I just didn't. Ever since Percy came to my door to question me and he showed me the evidence that links Luke to this organization for Kronos, I was sucked in. I needed to know the _complete_ truth.

I quickly text Thalia what I have decided to do and dialed Percy's number. After a couple of rings I hear a manly voice answer.

"Hello this is Agent Jackson."

"Hey, Percy, it's Annabeth Chase. I don't know if you remember me, but you came over to my house a couple of days ago to question me about my husband's death."

"Of course I remember you, Annabeth, how can I help you?" Those words kept running through my mind. Does he remember me because he's an agent and he has good memory or because I'm particularly special to him? I was hoping for the ladder.

"I have decided to help you with this case. Anything I can contribute even really little facts could make a huge difference, and I need to know the truth."

"Great, I'm glad to hear that. So do you want to meet somewhere to do this or what?"

"We should definitely not discuss this at my house anymore because I don't want my children overhearing anything and getting the wrong idea, so how about Starbucks on 19th street right now?"

"Perfect because I am literally doing nothing. So I'll meet you there." This caused me to laugh a little. I tried to hide it so he didn't think I was super cheesy, but it didn't really work.

"Yeah," I replied slowly thinking about why on earth I laughed at that joke. It wasn't even really a joke!

"So . . . bye?"

"Yeah bye," I hung up.

I quickly made arrangements for Grace and Noah to spend the day at Malcom and Danielle's house and then dropped them off.

"Mommy when am going to be a flower girl?" Grace asked me as she struggled carrying her giant backpack up Malcom and Danielle's driveway.

"On the day that Uncle Malcom and Aunt Danielle get married," I told her as I picked her and her backpack up easily in my arms. Noah ran ahead of us and rang the doorbell. Danielle answered the door and kissed Noah sweetly on the top of his head.

It's no secret that Danielle loves children and wants some of her own. That's why whenever I need someone to watch Noah and Grace, she is always suddenly available.

"Hey, guys! You ready for a day with fun Aunt Danielle!"

"Yeah!" Grace exclaimed enthusiastically. Noah just gave her a hug and went off to go watch TV.

"Thanks for doing this on such short notice."

"Anytime, Annabeth. There is just one small thing I need in return," Danielle said mysteriously.

"Of course what do you need?"

"You to be my maid of honor?" Danielle slowly asked. I couldn't contain my excitement so I immediately attacked Danielle with a hug.

"Are you serious?" I cried.

"Of course!"

I felt like I was a teenager again and all of my girly friends were talking about boys. I was never like them, but today I felt like a daughter of Aphrodite. I am going to be the maid of honor at my brother's wedding, and hopefully I would be an aunt soon too.

Danielle and I kept jumping up and down until I caught sight of her ring.

"Oh my gods, Danielle! Are you marrying a millionaire or my brother?" The ring was huge, and I couldn't help but mentally compare it to mine.

"Thanks, Annabeth," I hear Malcom come up behind Danielle and see him wrap his arms around her waist. By now Grace had become bored and went inside to color.

"I'm sorry for the joke, Malcom, but I really have to go," I say as I turn around and head for my car. I wave goodbye as I start to drive toward Starbucks. I parked my car when I got there and saw the familiar black SUV that probably belonged to a Special Agent Percy Jackson.

I briskly walk through the parking lot, carefully dodging cars, and looked down at my hand. The one that had my beautiful wedding ring on it. I stopped and stared at it for a moment before taking it off and dropping it into my purse. If my marriage really was a lie, then there is no need to continue wearing a symbol of exactly that.

I then walk into Starbucks, hoping to make this a quick visit, and see Percy at a table waiting for me. He seemed to already have gotten coffee for both of us and was now studying a piece of paper. I walk over and he quickly shoves the paper into a folder and smiles up at me.

"Hey, Annabeth, nice to see you again," He said as he stood up to shake my hand. I took his hand, but it felt incredibly awkward. Not like stranger awkward, but weird in a sense that we should do something more than this formal gesture.

"Of course," I replied, "I should be thanking you for coming out on such short notice."

"Oh don't worry I'm always prepared for stuff like this and I wasn't doing anything anyways." More awkward silence. Luckily he cracked a joke as if we were old friends catching up over coffee and then we got to work. Well we started working after we spent most of the time talking and getting to know each other.

He was an amazing person who definitely put a smile on my face. I hadn't laughed this much since I was a teenager. Percy seemed to take me back to those days.

After we talked for a while, we came to the conclusion that I didn't know anything else about this ordeal, or at least the obvious parts.

"So, Annabeth, this was great. I will be sure to keep you posted on the progress I make," Percy reassured me as he stood up and grabbed his coat.

"He was about to walk off when I blurted, "Wait!"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"When do you think would be the best time for us to work on the case together?"

He looked down at the floor for a minute, then back up at me. "Annabeth, no offense, but you're a civilian. I work for an agency. It would be best for you if you weren't involved because of the risks."

"The risks?" I questioned.

"Yes, the risks. They're much greater for civilians."

"I'm a half-blood. My whole life is a risk! Every time I leave my house I have to watch my back! I have to protect my children with so much care, it's ridiculous! I practically invented the term overprotective mother!"

"That's exactly why I can't let you help me! Aside from the fact that you are a civilian, I can't let your family be torn apart more than it already has!"

Our little argument, as short as it was, caused everyone around to stop their conversations and stare at us.

"Go back to your lives," Percy said loudly, flashing his badge for extra effect. People immediately started talking again, probably not wanting to further anger an FBI agent.

"That's really sweet," I mumbled after a while.

"What?"

"That's really sweet of you not wanting to tear my family apart."

"Well it's part of the job," He said acting like it was nothing, but I knew that he really wanted to protect my children.

After a long awkward silence, Percy looked up at me and straight into my eyes. "I promise that I will get to the bottom of this. I'll let you know if I have any leads," He told me getting up and walking out. But as he rushed out the door, a paper from the case file folder fell out. I ran to go pick it up and hopefully catch Percy before he raced off getting as far away from this Starbucks as possible.

As I knelt over, I didn't recognize the paper. I thought Percy had showed me everything in the file in hopes that I could identify something, but I guess he wanted to keep this as his little secret.

I snatched the paper off of the floor and quickly ran after Percy hoping to accuse him of lying and maybe, just maybe, be able to help him more than by sitting around waiting for his beck and call.

"Percy!" I yelled loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. He turned back around, with a confused look on his face and started walking in my direction. "You forgot something," I scoffed, "Now do you th-" I stopped midsentence. I may not have seen this document before, but I know for a fact that I've seen one of the names listed.

**David Castellan. **

Luke's uncle. Or so I assumed. Percy was reaching for the paper when I pulled it back.

"Oh come on, Annabeth. So I didn't show you everything. You can't use this as leverage against me to let you in on the case."

"No, it's not that. I know this name. What's this document for?"

"Wait, you know this name? How? This is a list of suspected people working for Kronos."

"David Castellan," I whispered pulling Percy against a wall outside of Starbucks. "He was Luke's uncle."

"Uncle? That's not possible. We have access to all of Luke's records, including his family, and there's no David Castellan listed anywhere."

"So what are you saying?" I asked with a hint of desperation in my voice.

"Either there's a mistake in these records, which is very unlikely, or "David" is not really Luke's uncle and was meeting him about this Kronos operation.

I gasped. I was speechless. I assumed that was what happened, but I didn't really want it to be true.

"Annabeth, are you okay?"

"I invited him to my home," I looked up at Percy, "He visited during holidays. He helped me through Luke's death! Did I let a monster into my home?"

"Possibly," Percy replied truthfully, "But at least it wasn't a literal monster." All I could do was stare at him and try to get my heavy breathing under control. "Come here," Percy calmly murmured into my ear as he engulfed me in a hug, "It's all going to be fine."

I let that hug wash over me, mostly because it felt so comfortable, so right.

"Um . . ." I said after a minute not bothering to hide the urgency in my voice, "I have to go."

I looked up at Percy one last time, who gave me a questioning look, then I ran into Starbucks, grabbed my purse, and drove off.

I went around town the rest of the day running a few more errands before I went to pick up my children.

I still wasn't completely used to the whole mom thing. I mean I got pregnant in my early twenties when I swore I would never in my life have children. Now they are the loves of my life and I am out grocery shopping for them.

I never was the crazy college girl getting drunk at parties. I was always the responsible girl and it definitely pays off now. I have the easy suburb life with an architecture business that is on its way to becoming a huge success.

That is of course until one Special Agent Percy Jackson came and turned my life upside down. My life will never be the same and I am so thankful for that. I not so secretly crave this adventure, but I was trying to keep todays events off my mind for many reasons.

The truth is even with two young kids life has never been the same since I was just a child at Camp Half-Blood. I was always out on quests, fighting monsters, and winning battles. I had so much energy and still do. I'm just so bored while Noah and Grace are at school, and this little escapade with Percy is just what I need.

I'm partially satisfied with this realization as I make my way down the aisles of the grocery store. I'm nearly finished picking up everything I need when I hear a familiar voice.

"Fancy seeing you here."

I whip around and see Ethan standing before me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I guess I could ask you the same question seeing that this is a grocery store," He replies. I laugh at his obvious joke thinking to myself for a daughter of Athena I sure have a lot of stupid questions lately.

"Sorry, I've just have a lot on my plate right now."

"Well would you like to talk about it over coffee?"

"Sure," I say completely disregarding my normal rules and trudging into the unknown. We finished grocery shopping quickly and walked across the street to a cute little café.

We drank coffee for a while and talked about multiple topics. Finally he decided he wanted me to spill about what was bothering me, a topic that I so carefully tried to avoid. I tried to dance around the subject but he kept bringing our conversation back around.

"I'm just stressed about work," I lied. "I have a huge project coming up and I can't mess up or my company might go under." Lie.

"Wow. So is this like a make it or break it kind of deal for your company?"

"Yes exactly like that." Complete lie.

"Maybe I should go then," He said as he started to get up. "I don't want to distract you from your work."

"No," I quickly blurted, "This is exactly the distraction I need." Not a lie. He smiled and sat back down. We talked for a while and much to my surprise I was really beginning to like him.

I even found out that he was a half- blood too. He told me that he was the son of a minor god or goddess, but that's all he said on the subject. It left me quite curious and wanting to know more. After a while he got up and said he was late for another business meeting.

"I have lots of fun talking to you. So much so that I am beginning to have a terrible habit of being late for business meetings." That made me smile and partially blush. "Maybe we could do this again?"

"Yeah. I'd like that." I stood and shook his hand. Anyone could tell from a mile away that he wasn't just shaking my hand casually. This particular handshake said more than just business was going to happen.

**Percy's POV**

I looked down at the piece of paper that was the only lead I could find so far on this case. The people who worked for Kronos were great at covering their tracks, but I was going to do my best to uncover them. After all I didn't work for the FBI for years and not get anything out of it.

The paper had only a list of possible suspects, and after doing a little research I found that another base may be in the process of being set up in another country. It was an amazing lead, but it seemed kind of dangerous. It may involve me possibly traveling to this mysterious county, maybe a car chase, or perhaps defusing a bomb. You know a typical mission for an agent in charge or doing the dirty work. It was just the excitement I always enjoy.

I wasn't quite sure though if this kind of danger was fit for Annabeth. She told me a couple of her adventures from when she was at Camp-Half-Blood, the Greek camp for demigods. She was apparently quite the fighter, but now she had kids. She's a mom who drops her kids off at baseball practice and is busy trying to get them into the best schools in D.C. I couldn't put her in that kind of danger.

Even if she wanted to help.

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><p><strong>Sorry this took so long. I was really busy over the summer. I went on vacation and just got over being really sick. Hope you liked it! Please review! Also if you're confused you need to be a bit more specific as to why. I'm just starting out as a writer so please help me to grow.<strong>


	4. The Zoo

**Just so you know I tweaked chapter 3 slightly. You don't have to go back to reread, but for future reference Annabeth recognizes a name. "David Castellan" Luke's "uncle" who Percy and Annabeth think might be a traitor.**

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><p><strong>Annabeth's POV<strong>

I woke up to a loud thud that came from the room beside me. As I slowly woke up and came to my senses, I realized that Grace's room was next to mine.

I jumped out of my bed faster than lightning and ran to her room fearing the worst. And as in **the worst **I mean some sort of monster that decided it needed to kill a poor, innocent child.

I rushed into her room, flipping on the light switch, and what I saw next didn't surprise me even a little bit. It was Grace sprawled out on the floor, the load thud was her falling off the bed. I always knew she was a restless sleeper, and now this confirms it.

I returned to my room after tucking her in again, hoping to get at least a few more hours of sleep, but that was a lost cause.

After some unsuccessful rest, I decided to go downstairs and read. I picked up a book from my nightstand, which I had just started, and proceeded down the stairs when I saw Thalia lying on my couch sleeping. This did happen from time to time. She either stayed out late or decided that she didn't want to go back to her apartment, so she would crash here.

"Thalia," I whispered. I nudged her arm hoping she would get up and move. When that didn't work, I moved her legs myself and sat beside her.

I was just getting into an intriguing part of the book when I feel her legs twitch. I pause for a moment, staring at her to see if she would wake up, but she didn't. I go back to my book, and not a minute later her echoing snores distract me. I pause again, this time looking at the ceiling instead wondering why I even sat down here in the first place. I was about to stand up when her legs twitch yet again and then full on kick me in the ribs.

I was used to the pain, but that didn't mean Thalia could kick me whenever she wanted, even if she was asleep. "That's it!" I yell smacking her in the leg with my book. She wakes with a start screaming Parker's name, her secret boyfriend.

"Annabeth, I've got to stop waking up like this," Thalia stated drowsily. It is true. Almost every time Thalia stays here, she ends up getting smacked by me.

"Why did you stay here anyways?" I asked going back to my book.

"I was at Parker's place and I wanted to come over and tell you about the amazing night I had with him," She says dreamily looking fully awake now. I guess Parker had that effect on her.

"Seriously? You? Amazing night? Wanting to tell _me_?" I scoffed not believing what I had just heard.

"I know this has never happened before, and if I'm being honest, it will probably never happen again, but Parker is amazing! He planned a romantic dinner for us last night under the stars. It was absolutely gorgeous! Every last child of Aphrodite would kill for a date like that."

"Cool," I said still emerged in my book.

"Annabeth?"

"Cool," I replied.

"Annabeth?" Thalia said a bit more pressingly.

"What, Thalia?" I asked finally putting my book down.

"I uh . . . I uh really like him." And I swear for the first time in my life I could actually see love in her eyes. Not the love she had for her friends, not even the love she had for her brother, Jason (who is also a half-blood), but romantic love. She actually loved Parker, and it scared her.

"Then I have to meet him," I reassured her. "I'm going to the zoo with Noah and Grace today, and you and Parker are welcome to tag along." She thought for a moment and then accepted the offer with a smile on her face. A mischievous smile.

"Only if you invite that hot FBI agent you're seeing."

"I'm not seeing a hot FBI agent," I argued going back to my book once more hoping she would just drop the subject.

"Oh sorry. Only if you bring the **FBI** agent you're seeing?" She corrected.

"No I'm not seeing Special Agent Jackson! Or anyone for that matter. He is just filling me in on Luke's case. That's all. I even had to fight to be able to help him, but I still don't think he's convinced."

"But did he agree that you could help him?"

"Partially," I confessed. I didn't want to get her involved in too much of this. Luke was one of her best friends, and his sudden death hurt her almost as much as it hurt me. "He agreed that I could be useful in recognizing names, dates, places, stuff like that, but he doesn't think I should be involved because I'm a civilian."

"Civilian? Like a mortal? You're joking right?" I shook my head. "Well next time you see him tell him that Thalia said he can go-" She was thankfully cut short by the sound of my phone ringing. She had a temper sometimes, and I was happy that she would try to stand up for me, but I still didn't want to make this her number one concern.

"Hold on," I tell her as I look at the caller ID.

Ethan. I'd met him a few weeks ago and we've been dating even since. Well going out, doing fun things, and getting to know each other. Nothing concrete, though.

"Hello?"

"Hey I know it's early," Ethan says mysteriously, "But I wanted to catch you before you made last minute plans of some sort. You doing anything today?"

"Ah . . ." I pause unsure if he would ever want to come to the zoo with me, my friends, and my children. "Yes I'm going to the zoo." but you're welcome to join me and four other people at the zoo. I'm bringing my kids and some other friends decided to tag along."

"The zoo?"

"Yeah my kids love looking at exotic animals," I explained. "You're welcome to join me if you want. Thalia will be there, so we won't be the only adults."

"Sure that sounds fun," Ethan chuckled, "As long as they don't steal an exotic animal I think we'll be fine. What time should I be there?"

"Ten," I laughed.

"Great, can't wait. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and saw Thalia giving me another mischievous look. "That was Ethan." I said slowly. "You remember? Your friend that I met at Olive Garden a few weeks ago. He will be joining us today," I said even slower.

"Wait, when did this happen?" Thalia demanded.

"**This** isn't what you probably think."

"Well then what is **this**?"

"A friendship. Nothing more."

"Yet!" Thalia exclaimed.

"No there is no yet, and there will never be a yet," I retorted as I walked to the kitchen to start breakfast.

"Oh come on, Annabeth. You're a successful, beautiful woman who just turned thirty. You have to date!" Thalia exclaimed while she followed me.

"No I don't. There is no rule that says I must have romantic feelings towards someone. That's not how life works."

"Okay, you don't have to do anything, but your boyfriend is meeting your friends and your children. That's a big step."

"He already knows you, Thalia," I pointed out. I opened the refrigerator grabbing everything to make waffles, and set everything neatly on the counter.

"But he's meeting your children. Annabeth, I know I'm not an expert in this department, but you should really get back out there again. Date new people. See where it goes with your boyfriend. This might help you get over Luke."

I opened my mouth to protest, but no words came out. Ethan isn't my boyfriend, but he might as well be. We've been dating for only a few short weeks, and I'm already bringing him home to meet my kids. And he might help distract me from the investigation.

"Fine, I'll give this a chance. Now start making breakfast for my children," I ordered. And to my surprise, Thalia followed those orders. Before Luke died, I'm pretty sure Thalia had never cooked a meal in her life, but she could see how I was struggling as a single mother and decided that it was the best friend's duty to help raise my children.

I was walking up the stairs to wake up Noah first when Thalia called after me that she was inviting someone else to the zoo with us.

"Hey, Annabeth it's cool if he comes right? I finally found him and I want to catch up!"

"Sure. What's one more person?" I sarcastically state, strolling up the stairs.

**Percy's POV **

I reread Thalia's text one last time before getting out of my car.

**The National Zoo. Ten o'clock. I'll be there with my boyfriend, best friend, and her two kids. Hopefully I'll see you then. **

I couldn't believe after all this time I'm finally going to catch up with my cousin. It's been years since I've seen her or even talked to her, and since we grew up at separate camps, we never really got to know each other well. She's some of the only family I have left, that I know of anyways.

The only immediate family I have is my mother and step-father. I talk to her when I can, but with my job, it's better not to put her in danger. Every once in a while, I get lucky enough to sneak off and see her. We cherish those visits because we never know when it might be the last. Especially since I'm put in triple the amount of danger every day.

First of all I'm a living being, so I'm always in danger of dying. Second of all I'm not a normal being, I'm a half-blood which are a monster's favorite snack. And lastly I work for the FBI, particularly in a top secret branch, so I have created many enemies over the years.

I step out of my car, ignoring all of the danger I'm in as I always do, and walk toward the front of the zoo. I buy a ticket from a small, plump lady with a forced smile plastered on her face. I return the smile, mine, however, not fake, and go wait off to the side for Thalia and her friends. If she's anything like I remember her, she'll be dressed in all black probably, ever in this sunny weather. Dark makeup too, to fully show her punk personality.

I did hope that I'd be meeting her one on one instead of with a big group of people, but I was just thankful to be seeing her at all. After a few minutes of standing and waiting, I decide to go sit down on a bench. As soon as I sit down, I see someone I recognize walk up to the ticket saleswoman.

"Annabeth?" I call standing up and walking over to her. Her head whips in my direction and she looks pleasantly surprised.

"Percy, it's so nice to see you," She says with a smile on her face. I'm pretty sure this one is real. She looks down at her kids. "Noah, Grace, you remember Percy don't you? You met him a couple of weeks ago."

Noah nods his head, but stands even closer to his mother. Grace, however, looks genuinely happy to see me.

"Percy!" She screams running into me full force with a hug. The look on Annabeth's face told me that this was Grace's natural personality. I guess she's not afraid of people she barely knows or strangers for that matter.

"So what are you doing here," I ask Annabeth smiling down at Grace.

"Same as you I hope," She replies smiling as her daughter extends her arms cueing me to pick her up. I hesitate at first, not sure if it's appropriate to pick her up, but Annabeth's children think that we're friends, so I bend over and lift her up. To a five year old, everything is fun and exciting. Her giggles make it obvious that even being lifted up by a stranger is fun.

"Uh . . . well I came here to meet someone," I say before Grace starts to pinch my cheeks. Annabeth giggles. It's similar to her daughter's laugh, but more grown up, less silly.

"Wait, is it for your job?"

"No, actually it's a family matter."

"Oh," Is all she says, but I know she wants to ask more. She's probably wondering if I've found anything new and why I didn't share. Or maybe she wants to ask me if I really came here to question somebody on an FBI affair and just lied to her. The thought that is probably nagging at her the most is if I'd forgotten about this case and moved on to a completely new one.

The truth is I've been working on this case nonstop. It's not only important to me because it's my job, but it's a bit personal too. And I have found a few more scraps of evidence, but they all lead back to this new base that's being set up in another country. The only option I have, if I want to get more evidence, is to travel to this base.

Annabeth and I stand there in awkward silence for a few minutes, Grace still in my arms. Then I see a woman and man, who is probably her boyfriend, walk up to the ticket saleswoman, who still by the way had a fake smile plastered on her face. This woman had black hair and a dark exterior, but shocking blue eyes.

"Thalia!" Annabeth exclaims walking over to the girl and giving her a hug. Grace wriggles out of my arms and starts running toward them. "And you must be Parker!" Annabeth continues, "Thalia has told me so much about you!" Wait, what?

"All good things I hope!" The man who was supposedly Parker says flashing a smile at Thalia.

I wait a second for them to finish their reunion and then step forward. "Thalia?"

She looks up at me. "Percy? Oh my gods, Percy! It's really you!" She laughs hugging me.

"Uh . . . should I be worried?" Parker jokes.

"No, no! Parker, this is my cousin Percy. We haven't seen each other in years. Since we were children really."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I'm just happy we got the chance to reconnect."

"Me too," Thalia says smiling yet again.

After our casual, "Oh I haven't seen you in years!" talk, I look over to see Annabeth still standing there. I'd almost completely forgotten about her with all the excitement of seeing Thalia again. I look at her face and see her trying to concentrate, like she's trying to connect the dots. Then she made a look of understanding.

"You're my best friend's cousin?" She asks. I think about it for a minute. Thalia told me that she was going to the zoo with her best friend and her two children.

"Wait, you're my cousin's best friend?" We both look at Thalia.

"Oh my gods that's hilarious!" Thalia laughs. "So Percy is Special Agent Jackson, the hot FBI agent," She says looking at Annabeth, "And Annabeth is the hot blond chick you briefly told me about over the phone!" She exclaims looking at me.

"Thalia!" Annabeth and I say in unison. I couldn't believe this. I get assigned a new case from my boss, and one of the main people involved is my cousin's best friend. How did I miss that? Thalia's name would have been in the case file, and even though I haven't seen her in years, I would have recognized her name.

I couldn't help coming to the same conclusion, that this case suddenly got a whole lot more personal.

"I didn't know! I swear!" Thalia says.

I stare at her for a moment, observing all of her little movements. One of my favorite things about working where I work is that they teach you how to tell if someone is lying, and I could tell that Thalia wasn't lying.

"I believe you," I say after a while.

"How do you know?" Annabeth asks me picking up Grace.

"I can tell if someone's lying," I simply state.

"Good enough for me!" Thalia agrees, "Can we go in now?"

"Oh Ethan isn't here yet," Annabeth says.

"Do you want us to wait with you?" Thalia asks.

"No, no. You guys go on. We'll catch up. He just texted me anyways saying that he'd be a few minutes late; lots of traffic. Can you take Noah and Grace though? I don't want to keep them waiting.

"Sure," Thalia laughs. And with that, everyone except Annabeth starts down the path towards the animals.

"So who's Ethan?" I ask Thalia as we walk. She smirks at me.

"Who's the hot, blond chick you briefly talked about on the phone?" She retorts.

"No one in particular," I say taking in my surroundings.

We walk in silence for a little ways down the path before Thalia says, "I don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"Who Ethan is. Well I've known him forever. He's a friend of mine, but I don't know what he is to Annabeth."

"Well if he's meeting her kids, it has to be sort of serious, or if not, than she must really like him."

Thalia looks at me with a smile. "Now I'm starting to see why you work for the FBI."

We walk down the path even further, finally getting to the animals and past all of the useless junk venders try to sell to people. Thalia and I take turns talking about our lives and how they've played out since childhood. I got to know Parker a bit too; needless to say, I see why Thalia has fallen head over heels for him.

As we walk to our fourth enclosure, Grace grabs Thalia's hand in one of hers and Parker's in the other. She's so sweet and innocent, and honestly this little girl alone has made me rethink my entire life.

As we walk up to the area that's home to the giraffes, I see Annabeth standing there already with a man who I presumed to be Ethan. He has dark glossy hair, and a slim build, but that's all I could tell considering their backs were faced to us. He must have told a pretty funny joke because Annabeth was laughing hysterically.

"Mommy!" Grace yells running toward her mother.

Annabeth turns around quickly and picks up her daughter with ease. We all walk over there, Noah more calmly than Grace.

"Hey guys," She says happily, "We took a shortcut," She looks at Ethan laughing. Anyways Ethan this is Grace, Noah, Percy, Parker, and Thalia, as you already know," Annabeth says pointing to all of us as she said our names.

"Everyone this is Ethan . . . my friend," Annabeth gradually chokes out.

I guess Thalia and I finally got our answer, and from the look on Ethan's face, so did he.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Ethan," I say extending my arm to shake his hand.

"Likewise," He says with a smile, shaking my hand. When we pull away, I freeze. I know his face. I've seen it somewhere before, I'm sure of it. I just couldn't place it.

Suddenly Grace gasps, drawing everyone's attention. "Pandas!" She squeals running down the path to see the animals.

We continued down the path, after finally getting Grace to leave the pandas, stopping to look at lions, and tigers, and bears, and all of the other animals too. This time Grace was holding Annabeth's hand instead of Thalia and Parkers.

We finally got to an area in the zoo that held smaller animals after a while, snakes and insects to be exact. We were passing by the spiders when Annabeth started to look nauseous.

"Whoa, are you alright?" I asked trying to steady her. She said nothing, but tried to regain her balance (which was unsuccessful). I looked down at Grace and Noah, and they had the exact same look on their face. With Annabeth still in my arms and a scowl of jealousy painted on Ethan's face, I grabbed Grace's hand as Thalia grabbed Noah's and we rushed out of there.

I almost forgot, they were descendants of Athena.

"You okay, Annabeth? You looked like you were about to faint."

"I'm fine now," She replies. I look around at everyone and our surroundings. We've just about seen everything here, but I wanted to take Annabeth aside and talk to her about the case. I watched as Ethan walked over to talk to her, so I went over to Thalia who had started to talk to Parker.

"Hey," I say getting her attention, "I need to talk to you."

"Okay," She says looking up at Parker.

He smiles down at her. "Oh, you mean alone? Sorry," He nodded walking away.

I wait until he's out of earshot, and then say, "I recognize him."

"Who? Parker?"

"No, Ethan."

"You recognize Ethan?"

"Yes."

"From where?"

"I don't know."

"But you know him from somewhere?"

"Yes."

"So you saw him at the grocery store once, big deal."

"No, I think I saw him when I was working a case."

"You think, but you don't know."

"I know I remember his face, and I'm going to find out from where," I say as my gaze drifts over to Annabeth and Ethan.

"Percy," Thalia says with a sincere look on her face, "Just don't destroy Annabeth's happiness. She's been hurt before, with her husband's death and all, and now you come along and reopen this case."

"So I take it she told you everything."

"Not everything, but a lot. Look, she's already heartbroken that Luke betrayed her, and if she hears you going around accusing Ethan of, I don't know, getting close to her just to use her, she's going to be devastated."

"But if it's the truth-"

"Then you better be sure of it," She states simply.

I look over at her again, she's still talking to Ethan. Her kids, close to her, playing with Parker.

"Percy I know the reason you want to go talk to her, it's written all over your face. Go find out who he is first. You could be wrong."

Thalia was right. I could be wrong, but I didn't think I was. I wanted to warn Annabeth before she left to stay away from Ethan. I had a bad feeling about him, but I couldn't prove it.

We finish walking the path of the zoo, and this time as we walk, Grace grabs my hand. I look up and see that jealous scowl back on Ethan's face. Grace looks exhausted, so I pick her up and she falls asleep in my arms. I hold her, smiling and then hand her over to Annabeth when we reach the end.

"Thanks, Percy," She whispers repositioning Grace in her arms.

"My pleasure," I reply grinning again.

"Call me about the case. We didn't get a chance to talk about it today."

"I will," I reassured her. We would have talked about the case if Thalia hadn't convinced me not to. Would she have stopped seeing Ethan? Or would she be mad at me for even suggesting what I would have? Either way we'll never know.

The only thing I can do now is find out who Ethan really is.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm here! Don't worry. I know it's been about a year since I've published this story, and this is only chapter 4, but so much has happened. I redid part of this story, and that took me a while, I have endless amounts of work due to tough classes, and I got really sick for a while. Not to mention the fact that I'm quite hesitant about this story. However, for those of you that like this story, I'm writing for you, and for me too of course. Thanks to those have given me compliments! (I absolutely love compliments!) And also thanks to those of you that have given me constrictive criticism. I hope to continue this story at a much faster rate from now on! Thanks!<strong>


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